Year of the Bun [5] - The Hand that Feeds

Midicus was the one to open the door and see at least five Lunell moving towards them rather quickly. "Ah! Close the door!" Came Hutch's voice, in obvious distress. Midicus rushed into the building with Shibani before doing so, having to lightly nudge Lunell away from the exit before being able to get the door closed. Once the two were actually able to look around the Imporium, they saw just how many leashes Hutch was holding. Well, actually they couldn't see how many leashes Hutch had. There were so many of them that they all just sort of melded together to the eye, like a rope that unraveled at certain points. "Oh, for the sake of sin, Hutch, these guys are out of control!" Midicus said with a bit of panic, walking over to the other bun and being careful not to step on any of the excitable imps. "I know! I've been trying to get them in their cages for hours, but it's no use! There's too many of them for me to contain all by myself- especially with Mochi Moon going on!" Midicus nodded. "I don't doubt it, not surprising that the lunell get excited over Mochi Moon of all things. Moon's in the name, after all. Why didn't you get them settled before Mochi Moon started?" Hutch downright whined. "I got too distracted! I was preparing for the influx of rabebes that I'm expecting with them popping up all over the place, and totally forgot to handle the lunells!"

Shibani hummed. "Well, maybe we can help you out?" he offered. "Oh, that'd be great, I need to get all of these little guys into their crates, but I can barely hold onto all of them as is! Even if I got them in, I wouldn't be able to close the crates!" Both of the buns seemed to pause to think for a moment, looking at each other and at the door before Midicus let out a gasp. "I've got it! We place the crates by the door, and then open it a crack, maybe the Lunell will be so focused on getting outside that they run right into the crates! And as soon as they're in the crates, me and Shibani can close them and pull the leashes out through the openings! I think we can do at least three at a time, and hopefully if we do that enough, it'll be easier to get the rest settled." Hutch seemed... kind of confused about the plan, but it was the best thing they had at the moment. "Okay, I won't let go of the leashes until they're in the crates, and let go once you lock them in... I really hope this works." 

Both buns grabbed a set of three crates, setting one of the towers aside and placing the other in front of the door. Midicus took a second to angle it properly, but once it was just right, he nodded to Shibani. Shibani only opened the door a little, and a few Lunell bolted for it, quickly leading to three Lunell knocking themselves into the crates. As soon as they were in, Midicus snapped the locks closed, feeling a little bad once he heard the small sad noises of the Lunells realizing they had been trapped. "Sorry little fellas, but it's dangerous outside on your own." Midicus spoke softly to the lunells, allowing Shibani to close the door again before he moved the crates back to their proper places. They repeated the process about three more times until the pack eventually died down enough to where Hutch could actually count the amount of leashes in his hand. Four, to be precise. "Thank you both so much. This is much more controllable now, I can handle these four, I'll be back with those sesame seeds too!" Hutch smiled as he walked off, dragging the remaining Lunells with him. 

Midicus looked over to him, seeing Shibani walking towards the door. "Where are you going?" He asked, the other bun flinching, seemingly caught off guard by the question. "Oh, I'm going to go get the last ingredient. I don't need your help with that one, so I'll be back! I'm sure you'll still be here by the time I'm done!" Midicus tilted his head slightly, it was true that he was going to stay here a while, probably ask Hutch what he should do if he wanted to take care of a Lunell himself, but he had been helping Shibani this whole time... "Are you sure? I won't mind coming along with you, you know that." Shibani nodded. "I know, but It's not that difficult, and you deserve a nice break! I'll be back to grab you and the sesame seeds once I'm done, okay?" Midicus thought for a second, but decided not to pry. "Alright, wherever you're going, just stay safe."

The door then closed, and Midicus couldn't help but wonder where the other bun was going... At least, he couldn't help it until Hutch came back, an imp or too following him. He had more sesame seeds than they needed for mochi, and Midicus couldn't argue against some more lessons in Imp training. He decided to let himself relax, Shibani would be fine, and he would have a nice break with the imps, maybe he could learn more about the Rabebes too... oh, so many imps to learn about and appreciate! It had suddenly become extremely easy to forget he was even worrying about Shibani.